Whoosh! Our Apollo 8 spacecraft suddenly entered Earth’s atmosphere and a parachute came out of the back of our rocket to fulfill the mission of a gentle as well as safe landing.
It was, I thought, a Wednesday on Earth, which was our estimated arrival back from Mars. My space crew and I, which was seven people in total,were the ones who were chosen to explore plant life on Mars, after seven sincere years of astronaut training. Along with my space crew, my dog, who was a Golden Retriever, Retro, was taken along. After seeing the dog at our astronaut training facility one day, the CEO of NASA asked me if I wanted to bring Retro along to Mars. I was pretty doubtful about that question, so my first answer was, “I’ll think about it.” After that conversation, my space crew heard me and persuaded me to bring Retro. Soon, after two weeks, I was ready to confirm to my CEO that I’d bring Retro. Anyways, since my dog and I were the only people in our house, and none of our relatives or neighbors wanted to take care of him, because he “bites” or was “too much” I was good.
Our trip to Mars was around 300 million miles which was fourteen months as a round trip.
Soon within the time of seven minutes, our rocket landed on a runway which was part of NASA, our final destination. As our rocket landed, I went to a small opening, sort of like a window to see police officers to keep the crowd within a certain distance with the rocket and astronauts.
I also saw news stations with very eager reporters as well as my space crews’ fellow families waiting for them happily.
Soon the P.A. in our rocket reported that our execution out of the rocket would begin in thirty seconds. I quickly ran to my congested bunk bed, which was near my friend, Jeni’s, and stood close to the exit. Soon my whole space crew was ready, and for what felt like the first time in forever, I stepped on sweet, sweet land, without gravity making me fly all around. I took off my helmet and squinted my eyes as cameras flashed all around me. I smiled and waved at familiar faces until I looked ahead of me to see the CEO of NASA, Bill Nelson, gesturing me up onto the high platform stage to speak. I quickly ran up there and Nelson gave me a quick hug, instantly quieting down the crowd of people excitedly pointing and screaming with joy. Bill handed me the mic and quickly whispered in my ear, “Where’s Retro?”
My eyes went wide, the mic dropped, my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest. Suddenly, I dropped to the floor with a loud thud, feeling dizzy, and the crowd gasped. And that was all I remembered.
***
“Maria? Maria? Earth to Maria?” I heard a familiar voice say. I slowly opened my eyes to see a blur of Jeni, and a whole bunch of other people surrounding me in awe and shock. “Where’s Retro?” I mumbled, sitting straight to rub my eyes. Suddenly, everyone put their head down and cleared the way for Bill Nelson. He looked me straight in the eye in a sorrowful way and said, “I’m so sorry, Maria. Retro was left on Mars and….”
“And what?” I asked eagerly. “He died.”
There was an abrupt silence. I laid down in my bed, stunned. Even though I knew it wasn’t possible. I had hope and faith in him. My eyes watered and I cried until I thought my eyes became hard stone. Soon after that day, my misery started and felt like it would never, ever stop.
I remembered all the good times we had. Playing fetch, Binge watching our favorite TV shows, while I threw popcorn in the air for him to catch. Most of all, when he was given to me as a birthday present. But that was all gone. I started sobbing harder and harder.
Bill Nelson looked at me in a depressed manner and told me, “We were lucky that our rover on Mars, Spirit, saw him and it was recorded in our database that he survived three nights, but on the morning of the fourth night, there was no water, food, and the temperature was irresistible as it was minus 85 fahrenheit. I’m so sorry.”
I could see him turning away as he couldn’t bear this plot twist. Then I saw Jeni crying like a maniac as well as my cabinmate, Luka, tearing up too. I never thought this would happen like this, in fact I’d never thought about death. But then I realized, this turn of events would happen to everyone at one point of time, and it was better to move on without holding onto the past too much. Retro would be in my heart always, but I would have to move on, now or never.